The 3D Adventures Of Captain 3D

In 1953, the craze of 3D comics had publishers thinking that this was going to be the next evolution in comics, but it turned out to be just a passing fad. However, Harvey Comics decided to create the first stereoscopic superhero, Captain 3D, and they called in comic book royalty to work on it. Captain America creators Jack Kirby and Joe Simon handled the story, with Kirby doing all the art along with Mort Meskin and Steve Ditko in his first ever professional superhero comic. The comic came with two pairs of 3D glasses, but this trend didn't pan out so Harvey only did a single issue. Captain 3D had one of the gaudiest superhero uniforms ever made outside of Canada's Polka-Dot Pirate with his striped leggings, red buccaneer boots, dorky helmet and with a big "3D" emblem over the chest, he seemed more like a corporate mascot than a legit hero. The idea behind the character was to have a superhero who could literally leap off the page into the real world, although only if you were reading this single comic with the special specs. The story has Danny Davis running a bookstore and a stranger shows up to sell him the mystic Book of D, but he gets horribly melted after another stranger shoots him with a gamma gun, only for the other stranger to be melted himself by his mysterious boss. Danny puts on pair of 3D glasses to read the Book of D and out jumps Captain 3D who immediately subdues some of thugs that turn out to be cat people from 50,000 years ago that can appear as humans unless you see them with 3D shades. Captain 3D was the last of a society of advanced humans who was trapped on the 2D realm after the Cat People wiped them all out, but now the fiendish felines are coming after Danny as he's the Book's new guardian, whether he likes it or not. Danny later goes after a phantom thief who turns out to be working for the Cat People's queen Tigra, but Captain 3D uses his flight belt to take off and destroy her evil factory that churns out life-size paper dolls minions. The last story involves an unrelated bad guy called Iron Hat whose upper skull has a metal dome on it, but zero from the Cat People, although the comic says that Captain 3D will confront King Solitaire in the next issue, which of course was never printed. Captain 3D only had some high-tech gadgets and fisticuffs to battle evil with and couldn't even exist in our realm unless Danny lets his genie out of the lamp, so his potential as a long-term superhero was extremely limited. Aside from all the talent and effort that was put into this comic, Harvey didn't have enough faith for it to be a standard series, plus most 3D comics only lasted a single issue. Even though Captain 3D got rebooted as Marvel's 3D Man in the 70s, our Golden Age gimmick good guy had a short lifespan.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Super Science Isn't White Magic

Image
Vernon Miller headed up Maple Leaf Publishing which was the first comics publisher in Canada which opened its doors during the Golden Age, the majority of which were called Canadian Whites because they were mostly all done in black and white to save money. One of Maple Leaf's titles started out being called Name-It Comics which they allowed the readers to vote on the ongoing name for that eventually became Rocket Comics. One of the regular features in this anthology was by Spike Brown titled Cosmo And His White Magic about a rich scientist named Cosmo Grant that used his parents' old creations to fight evil as a freelance defender alongside his partner Captain Tom Hadden with the nickname of Hoot, so Cosmo and Hoot where the Dynamic Duo of their time. Similar to Batman, most of Cosmo's arsenal of freedom were given his own personal branding often referred to something with moniker of "Cosmo-" at the beginning of it. One of Cosmo's cases in Issue 9 had him thwa...
Read more

Hitler Vs. The Walking Dead

Image
Aside from its hit Vampirella magazine, Warren Publishing also had a few other horror anthologies. The creators of Famous Monsters Of Filmland had a comics publication titled Creepy hosted by the ghoulish Uncle Creepy, and there was a sister title called Eerie with the equally cryptic Cousin Eerie as its acting emcee. Russ Jones acted as the first editor after convincing publisher James Warren to come out with its first horror compilation in the spirit of Tales From The Crypt while avoiding the highbrowed Comics Code by printing the stories in black and white magazine format. One short but memorable story in Issue 35 got right to the point that many comic fans look for, zombies vs. Nazis! Army Of The Walking Dead came out over thirty years before Robert Kirkman's iconic urban horror comic and was drawn by former Captain America artist Syd Shores. Taking place during WWII, Nazi egghead Dr. Tumbler has developed a way to reanimate dead soldiers as zombies with augmented strength much...
Read more

This Ain't Your Dick Tracy Wrist Radio

Image
Dick Tracy might heighten the concept of the wristwatch radio, but only the Honor House Products Co. had the coconuts to really try to make a working one for fans of the comic strip detective. Edwin Wegman's mail order company ran from the 1950s-80s that was responsible for some of the biggest scams in comic book ads including Sea Monkeys, X-Ray Specs, and the outdoor child-sized Polaris Nuclear Sub, so their place in exaggerated advertising is cemented in infamy. Their "Amazing Wrist Radio" was not really a watch, but a miniature radio receiver that was powered by a germanium diode which does emit low level radiation, so hopefully nobody actually got cancer from this little doodad. It comes with a private earphone which probably could get lost really quickly in the bustling era of the Space Age. The $2.98 price wasn't much for when this ad ran in the 1960s, which nowadays would be around $30.00, even though the plus is it had a broadcast range of at least 50 miles. H...
Read more